No Time Like the Present
by aurorianskies
Summary: Harry Potter defeated Voldemort at the battle of Hogwarts, but he wakes up somewhere completely different. Somewhere all the dead of his world are still alive. AU Post DH.
1. Chapter 1

"Remus, could you stay here for a moment?"

Remus turned to face to other end of the table from where he was getting up to leave the nearly empty great hall.

"Yes Headmistress?"

"For merlin's sake call me Minerva, you've been here teaching long enough. I'd like to discuss the problems you've had in your house. Something about banned items?" She lifted an eyebrow clearly remembering Remus' own years in Gryffindor.

Remus' answering smile was amused, clearly recalling similar memories. "Sure thing, Minerva. I've believe gotten handle on the situation, as I found the cache in one of the hidden closets. I'm just not sure what to do with the stuff now that I've confiscated them, wouldn't want them to redistributed," he remarked wryly.

Suddenly, a thud came from behind them and McGonagall eyes widened in shock. Remus spun around only to find his godson, Harry, slumped on the floor, his clothing torn and filthy, covered in cuts and bruises.

"What in Heaven's name!"

Remus crouched down to inspect the state of his best friend's son, as the Headmistress sent a message to Poppy. Harry was unconscious and bleeding from an odd lightning shaped wound on his forehead. He looked smaller and thinner than usual and he smelled odd. He didn't enervate him fearing a concussion.

What could have happened to Harry, to have caused this?

"Where is the patient?" asked Poppy as she and her apprentice rushed into the hall. Spotting Harry she levitated him onto the stretcher McGonagall had conjured after checking for any urgent injuries.

"I'll call the Potters; you go question his dorm mates to find out if they know anything," the headmistress told Remus.

Remus quickly set out towards the Gryffindor house hoping some answers could be found and that Harry would be alright.

* * *

"James!"

The Head of the Aurors looked up from his desk to see his old professor speaking to him from the fireplace.

"Minnie?"

"Harry's been hurt, bring Lily and come to the infirmary immediately."

James' blood turned to ice. He knew parents were only summoned if something seriously wrong had happened. After all, broken bones could be fixed with a simple spell.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"We still don't know, Remus is asking his friends." Minerva rubbed her face anxiously, she had always been fond of Harry so his state was especially distressing. "He just appeared in the Great Hall unconscious."

"We'll be there shortly." He got up grabbing his cloak, not bothering to clean up the ink he had spilled in his haste.

James ran downstairs to find his wife, "Lily! Lily, where are you? We need to go to Hogwarts now!"

Lily ran in from the kitchen wand at the ready, "James? What's wrong?"

"It's Harry, he's been injured." Her shocked face quickly steeled into worried determination.

"What happened?" Lily asked as she threw floo powder into the living room fireplace. "Headmistress' Office!" she shouted.

"Minnie says she doesn't know yet, but Remus is investigating," he answered as they stepped through the floo.

* * *

Poppy Pomfrey was horrified. She had often treated Harry over the years everything from broken bones to colds, but she had never seen him in this condition. Her patient was malnourished, dehydrated, had cracked ribs, various scrapes and bruises, a bleeding, inflamed forehead, a depleted magical core, and if her diagnosis spell was correct, though she prayed it wasn't, had been put under the cruciatus curse.

She and her apprentice Anna had already fixed the ribs and other injuries but the odd cut on his forehead was resisting healing; she had to put twice as much power into her spells than normal and she could not remove the scarring. She could give him pain potions, but there was no way of undoing the damage the cruciatus curse had wrought with what she had on hand. The malnourishment wouldn't be fixable without several weeks of potions. She was fairly certain it was the magical and physical exhaustion that was causing the state of unconsciousness. All in all, she had never seen a student in such bad state in all her years of Hogwarts.

Poppy was baffled at what could have caused his condition. Obviously, someone had cursed the student illegally and probably caused the other injuries. Magical exhaustion could definitely be from defending and escaping his attacker, but the malnourishment could have only happened over a very long period of time. The other odd thing she noticed was that Harry was shorter by a couple of inches. Suspicious, she had cast multiple glamour and identification charms, but they all confirmed that he was indeed Harry Potter, son of James and Lily Potter in his natural state.

"Oh my god. Harry!" the redheaded witch exclaimed when she spotted her son lying still on the infirmary bed. "Will he be okay?" the worried mother asked as her husband stroked her back looking shell-shocked.

"Harry will be fine; he is recovering from exhaustion of his magical core and needs rest. However your son had a variety of other injuries. I-"

"He's not Harry!" the occupants turned to the doorway to see the Gryffindor Head of House trailed by the Headmistress and a perfectly healthy double of the teenager on the bed.

"Wha-what?" James had seen many things in his life, but seeing two of his son was not one of them.

"Harry!?" Lily walked forward to give her son a hug. Harry returned her hug distractedly as he was staring at the boy on the infirmary bed.

"I found Harry in his dorm. His dorm mates can all confirm where Harry has been. So this can't be Harry," Remus explained as he approached the bed where the patient lay asleep.

"But he is. When I realized this boy was shorter than normal, I did several identification spells. They all agree that he _is_ Harry."

"Can somebody please tell me why I have a twin?" Harry interrupted, staring in fascination at his clone.

All the members of the room turned to look at the Potter couple in askance, all wondering the same thing.

Lily gave them all an incredulous look, and a scathing look especially for her husband, "What? Are you kidding me? Harry doesn't have a twin. I think I would know." They all looked ashamed at that.

"Well then who is he? Even the map says he's me." Harry pulled out the infamous Marauder's map pointing out two dots in the infirmary both labeled Harry Potter.

"I'll look into I see if there's any reference in the archives, but I imagine we'll have to wait till he awakes. Remus why don't you guide the Potters out, Poppy and I need to talk."

* * *

Harry could hear voices. He still hadn't figured out how to open his eyes, so he wasn't sure who they were, but they did sound familiar.

"So he's your son? But he isn't?"

"Every identification test says he's my son. We even did a goblin ancestry test, same thing."

"Well there's no fricken' way to fake that, you'd have to be like Merlin or something. Congrats prongs, it's a boy!"

Prongs? That was very familiar. Ugh if only he could get the cobwebs out of his brain.

"Very funny."

"So he's Merlin, Merlin is putting some heavy-duty magic on him or you really have two Harrys."

They were talking about him?

"We checked him for any kind of magic, nothing. his core was nearly depleted except for some dark magic residue clinging to his forehead. We think that's from whoever cast the cruciatus curse though," the voice paused to heave a sigh, "That's why you guys are here. He hasn't committed any crimes that we are aware of. He's clearly been in a fight with a dangerous witch or wizard, so we've sent out an alert for suspicious activity but so far zip. We need to know if there's a threat and if he's dangerous too. And how the heck did he appear in the Great Hall."

A female voice snorted, "yeah and you're not at all interested in the fact he's a clone of your son."

Harry had finally figured out how to flutter his eyes open.

"Hey look he's waking up!"

"Shh!"

"Oh shit," Harry thought, "I'm dead" as he looked up into the interested faces of James Potter, Sirius Black, and Nymphadora Tonks.

"Here drink some water," said his father still staring avidly at his face as he handed him a cup.

Taking a large gulp he croaked, "Thanks."

"No prob kid. Now I hate to hit you with this right after you woke up, but who the hell are you? and what's the last thing you remember?"

Looking up into the kind face of his father he answered, more than a bit confused, "I'm Harry? And um, I guess catching the elder wand as Voldemort's avada kavara rebounded. Crap! It must have killed me again."

The three aurors exchanged looks.

"Right. . . Bypassing all dead again stuff, and the your name is Harry thing, 'cause that's how you end up in crazy land, who's this flight of death character? Is he dangerous?" Harry's godfather asked this in the placating tone one would use to humor an insane person.

"You-know-who?" Harry asked incredulously.

"No I don't that's why I'm asking."

"Wait, wait, wait. What? You guys don't know who Voldemort is?"

Tonks ignored his disbelieving stare, "I still wanna know why he thinks he's dead."

"Because you guys are here."

More confused faces were exchanged at that.

"I don't get it," His dad said.

"You're all dead, I saw you die myself," Harry said exasperatedly, pointing at Sirius. "Look since you guys don't seem to know anything and you think I'm crazy, why you don't get Dumbledore."

"Pretty sure I'm alive. You know Dumbledore?" James asked, clearly surprised, "Why do you want him? He's been retired for twenty years. And I'm not sure I can get a hold of him, last I heard he was in Italy with his husband for their fifteenth anniversary."

Harry gaped at that. So he wasn't dead after all, maybe just insane. He was pretty sure his afterlife wouldn't feature Dumbledore traipsing Europe with his longtime husband.

"Look we just wanna know what happened to you and where you came from. You mysteriously appeared in the great hall cursed to heck. Are you or whoever you dueled gonna put to people's safety in jeopardy? Also there's the part you seem to be my son's double except shorter. We really need to get to the bottom of this."

Harry still reeling from the revelations started at that, "I'm shorter?! What?"

Tonks snorted, "Is that really what you focused on? Can we administer versiterium to verify your story? Not that we don't trust you, but we really don't trust you"

"Do I get a choice?"

"Not really, no," Sirius admitted.

Harry crossed his arms, "Fine."

* * *

_So thoughts? Any feedback would be great. If there's anything I can do to make I better please tell me._


	2. Chapter 2

James stuck his hand in his pocket before pulling out a small vial, "This is one dose. It will wear off in half an hour," He poured it into a glass of water then handed it Harry, "We will be sticking to standard questions. We won't ask you any personal questions unless we think it's important."

Harry hesitated. He knew he had to take it if he wanted to get anywhere. They seemed just as unsure about him as Harry was about them. Still, the lack of control caused by veritasium was a terrifying concept. Sighing in resignation, Harry swallowed he potion.

James Potter waited a moment to allow the concoction to take effect, "What is your full name?"

"Harry James Potter," Harry couldn't stop himself from continuing, "people also call me the-boy-who-lived and the chosen one." That response garnered snorts and giggles from Sirius and Tonks and a nonplussed expression from James.

Stomping on Sirius' foot, He cleared his throat before speaking again, "When were you born?"

"July 31st, 1980."

Tonks interrupted the questioning, "So he really is Harry. Or at least thinks he is."

"I am right here you know."

"I don't think there are _any_ magics that can completely change body and mind. Not to this extent. I think it's safe to say he is Harry. I'm guessing from a parallel universe," Sirius added thoughtfully.

Harry reflected on what he'd learned so far. He really hoped he wasn't crazy. The alternate dimension thing made the most sense. That meant these people were real, his family was real. He shoved those thoughts away to tune into the conversation happening around him.

Tonks was nodding agreement to Sirius' theory, "yeah I read some books on that, nobody's ever proven it though. That's as good an explanation as any. I mean otherwise somebody's cloned your son, changed his appearance, fought with him, and given him a weird back story."

James rubbed his face, "Fine we'll go with that idea. Alright Harry, how did you arrive in Hogwarts' main hall?"

Harry scrunched his face, "I don't know."

"What do you remember of your transportation?"

Harry hunched his shoulders, "I had just dueled Voldemort. His own killing spell had reflected back when I used expelliarmus, it killed him. At that point I felt a huge tug on my body like a portkey, as a golden light blinded me. Then I woke up here." The adults' eyes widened in shock. Why had a seventeen year old been in a duel to the death?

James found his voice first, "We already asked this but could we get a clearer answer: who is Voldemort?"

"He was a former student of Hogwarts named Tom Riddle. He was more commonly known as the Dark Lord, Lord Voldemort, He-Who-Must- Not –Named, or You-Know-Who. He was the main cause of both wizarding wars in Britain. He and his followers slaughtered anyone with what they considered to be of impure blood," At this explanation, Harry's face closed off. The group had no doubt he had lost someone to the murderer.

Although James had no wish to keep asking Harry these questions, he knew he must, "Are his followers a threat still?"

"No, most should be dead or captured. And unless were transported with me I don't know how they'd follow me."

"Do you wish to harm anyone?"

"Only dark wizards and Dolores Umbridge."

"Who is Dolores Umbridge?"

"She is the witch who helped support anti Muggleborn laws, saying they stole their magic."

The other occupants of the room's faces had grown increasingly horrified at the responses harry gave.

Tonks couldn't contain herself, "Blimey! What is wrong with where you come from? "

"Voldemort," Harry answered darkly.

James glared at Tonks causing her to gulp, "Thank you for answering our questions, Harry. Since you are not from our world and none of your answers are cause for concern, you are free to go and do what you want," he gave a nervous swallow then began again, "I talked with my wife and she agreed. We'd really like to help you. Get to know you, too. You can stay with us. We can also try to help you get back. So, what do you say?"

"You should at least give him a chance to think about it." Tonks said reproachfully.

"No, no I'd like that." Harry figured it was unlikely he was going to find another place to stay. Plus, he'd really like to see more of his parent and godparent in this reality.

His father's face lit up, "Great! Lilly will want to meet you once she gets home. Once you're feeling better we show you the rest of the house. Oh, speaking of which, I should go get Healer Salveo now that you're up."

"Rest of the house?" Harry repeated uncertain.

"Yeah Prongs and Minnie thought it was a good idea to keep your sudden appearance a secret, so he brought you home and had the family healer look after you. This is one of the guest rooms." Sirius informed him.

Harry looked around the room, finally taking in the soft blue walls and wooden furniture. He had been too focused on the occupants of the room to notice he room itself.

"Why are you and Tonks here?"

James answered, "Just in case you actually were dangerous, I wanted some trained people as backup. Remus and Minnie would be here but they have a school to run."

Harry tucked that thought away. It seemed like Remus got to be a teacher here, he wondered if he taught defense also.

"Oh speaking of, Sirius you should tell Moony, I'll floo call the headmistress."

"Gotcha, see ya later pronglet 2.0," Sirius waved as he walked out the door.

Tonks also got up, "Bye Harry, cool meeting you."

James and Harry sat silently after she left. Finally, Harry had to speak, "I'm not the same Harry as yours."

"Yes, I know. I don't expect to be the same. You've clearly lived through different circumstances. And I know you aren't my son, but you are the son of another James and Lily. I'm sure they'd want us to help you. "

Harry nodded.

"Right, let me go tell Minerva, and get the Healer."

Harry nodded tiredly and leaned back on the pillows. Exhausted by the afternoon's events, he soon fell asleep as he waited for James return.

* * *

_Thanks for Reading. Any input or comments are welcome._


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